Unterganger Central Terminal
The (UCT) (Formerly the Unterganger Central Station or UCS) was the main rail transit hub in Unterganger City, located at Luminosity Road. The terminal building replaceed the older building, both built by Molster on the same spot. With the upgrade there were 16 tracks on two levels, to allow for expansions on the ever-growing Rail Transit Network. The following lines terminated, or had a station, at the UCT: The terminus and station of all the lines are back in operation on 3 June 2014, except the Airport Express Line which returned to service on November 2014. The terminal's design was inspired by Kuala Lumpur's Central Market building. The building was demolished on 4 December 2014 to allow for a realignment of the lines and a proper headquarters for the Rail Transit Network. The redeveloped station is today's RT Central. History Old building The plan for a central rail station in Unterganger City came along with Molster's Rail Development Plan. Prior to this, only a small boarding platform existed beside MTM's House, serving what would become the South Line. There was also the need for a more direct rail link to the East Village, which before then have a very long round trip in the desert south of the city. Construction commenced soon after the rail development plan was approved. The site chosen was once filled with procrastinator's mostly-eccentric builds, all but the "HUE" text sign has been torn down prior, the latter relocated beside Marx Street. The building design, while not based on any IRL stations, follow the general layout of stations in the locomotive golden age, with high vertical space and arches supporting the roof. Not anticipating more lines would be added, the platforms were built facing east. Early platforms mimic the old terminal beside MTM's house. The station opened serving the Subway Red Line, which occcupied platforms 1 and 2, the RT South Line and the newly-built RT East Line. There was also a mailcart station built under the administration office. With the inception of two new RT lines - the North and West Lines, the reserved area beside the east side of the station building had to be utilized to build extension platforms for the new lines, and the existing RT lines had their platforms relocated too as the former platform space became an access lobby to these new platforms. On 14 May 2014, Molster contemplated an entirely new design in order to realign the entrance and provide more space for platforms (on 2 separate floors) for future lines. The building was demolished on 21 May 2014 with Tudor's help. Justification for a new building Several factors contribute to Molster's decision to rebuild the building from scratch. Firstly is the insufficient space for tracks to approach the station. To accommodate new lines, the reserved space next to the station was immediately put to use with the construction of what eventually became platforms for six tracks, five are in use at the time of its demolition. The construction of these platforms, however, left hardly any space for the tracks to approach the platform. The station building at that point was hemmed in on all sides by walls, buildings, Luminosity Road and the moat surrounding the adjacent DA's castle. Almost all the lines have to approach the station from underground and in awkward orientation. Three lines have to squeeze through the 4-block gap between the extension building and a wall, with one line going over the other two, and another two line have to approach the platform from underground, and in a reversed orientation (from the center of the building to the end). The new building is set back a few blocks into the old bounds to provide more room for these lines to properly approach the station. Secondly, the old station was built assuming tracks would approach from the east. The main hallway was built on the west end of the building. As the area west of the building was already built up, the entrance was awkwardly situated at the north end of the hallway, or the northwest corner of the building out to Luminosity Road. The new building is set to have its entrance prominently facing the road. Thirdly, the old station is running out of space for future tracks. At the time of demolition only one out of 8 platforms was vacant. This, coupled with the first problem, left the station with no more option for extension. Demolition and construction After contemplating the idea of a new station throughout much of May 2014, Molster finalized the decision on 20 May 2014, when the building is completely demolished, and the site then excavated further. tudor was of much help during the process. The new building design has the following points in mind: *Entrance prominently located north to Luminosity Road, aligned to the center of the building. *Central concourse running north-south of the entrance. *Platforms on both sides of the concourse. *Two platform levels to double the number of available platforms, inspired by design decision of Grand Central Terminal in New York. Initially, the building were to be inspired by Kuala Lumpur Railway Station with its Moorish style. After some thought at how the intricacies of Moorish styles cannot be replicated in Minecraft in such a small space, Molster ditched the idea. He decided instead to base it on Kuala Lumpur's Central Market, even though the original building doesn't serve the same purpose (being originally a wet market). Construction took off soon after the old building was demolished, and progressed steadily. On 3 June 2014 the bulk of the facilities was finished and almost all the lines in the new terminal went back to operation. Tudor lent a hand in the early phase, but the artistic requirement only allow for one builder so he was dismissed partway. The new building was destined to last for only 6 months. Second demolition The new building was demolished on 4 December 2014. Molster planned on rerouting the bulk of the rails underground to alleviate the severe alignment problems with the highly built-up area around the station. He also planned for the North and South lines, as well as the East and West lines, to merge into two cross-server lines, which requires a redesign of the platforms that the current "terminus" platforms couldn't handle. The railway office was also not prominently placed and felt claustrophobic, being underground - something the new station will alleviate by having a headquarters tower for the RTN above the new planned station. This caused tudor some distress, as he didn't really agree with the demolition process, both due to his disdain for modern architecture and the fact that he helped build the old terminal. Places Old Building ;Hallway :Spanning over the three sections, the hallway runs on the west side of the building. The next three occupies the first section of the building. ;RT Ticket and general info counter :Located next to the Luminosity Road entrance. A corridor next to it leads to the office and mailcart station (details below) ;Railway Office :Located upstairs near (or behind) the counter. MTM was named the Director of Railways. ;Mailcart station (defunct) :Located under the Railway Office, the mailcart station used to provide service for incoming chestcarts from the original East and South lines. With the two new lines (North and West) and the older two's realignment the link was cut off. As with the rest of the mailcart network, the station is currently defunct. ;Rail Transit Network station :This station occupies the second section of the building, as well as all the extension platforms. There is a ticket counter, a row of turnstiles and toilets in the access lobby. The platforms of the South and East line used to be located in the lobby, but was moved as the space was needed for access to the new platforms. ;Subway station :Occupies the third section of the building at the end of the hallway. The ticket counters faces the hallway, leaving more room in the platform area for three booths selling drinks, snack and reading materials. These were demolished when the platforms were redesigned. ;Second floor lounge :Located across the second and third sections, with the stairs on the second. there are some chairs and tables, and at the third section is the "The Age of Steam Power" monument, relocated from its original location next to the old platform. ;Extension platforms :Built on the reserved area east of the original building, all of RT lines terminating at the UCS is now located here. Molster cited lack of room around the platform building with the wall of the Village of Luminosity built too close (merely 4 blocks) to it, resulting in awkward rail approaches to the platform (three lines had to squeeze through the gap, one was forced to run overhead over the other two). New building ;Lobby :The main lobby is located in the entrance. Flights of stairs connect the lobby to the upper and lower concourses, as well as the cafeteria and the Dokkiri Mart store. ;Lower and upper concourses :Located directly on top of the other. Both lead to platforms located on both long sides of the concourses. ;Platforms :There are 16 platforms spread over two levels, and further divided into 4 on each side of the building. The lower concourse lead to platforms 1 to 8 and the upper one platforms 9-16. Currently the majority of the upper platforms are vacant, and the vacant space is available for lease for booths. ;Ticket office :The ticket office faces the lobby directly, to the left from the entrance. ;Lockers and phone :4 telephone booths are located to the right side of the lobby. Further back are lockers for item storage. ;Cafeteria :Located upstairs from the phone and lockers ;Dokkiri Mart branch :Located upstairs from the ticket office ;Railway Office :Located downstairs, directly underneath the lobby. Trivia *The idea to build a replica of the Central Market, or derivatives of it, went back to some time after the Malay Old Town was planted. Due to border disputes, land reacquisition and general lack of space, the idea was abandoned, until late-May 2014 when the new terminal is taking shape, even though the two buildings doesn't serve the same purpose. Gallery Old building UCS front.png|Front side, which actually faces no street File:UCS platforms.png|The extension platforms serving all RT lines terminating at UCS UCS hallway.png|Hallway UCS RT entrance.png|Entrance to Rail Transit UCS RT concourse.png|Rail Transit concourse UCS Subway platforms.png|Subway platforms UCS Steam Power Monument.png|the Steam Power Monument UCS office.png|Railway Office UCS roof demolition.png|Partly-demolished roofs New building UCT lower concourse.png|Lower concourse KLCentralMarket.jpg|Facade of Kuala Lumpur's Central Market Category:Railway stations Category:Buildings in Unterganger City Category:Monuments and buildings based on real life structures Category:Demolished